In the construction of a household refrigerator it is often desirable to provide a partition within the refrigerator for separating the refrigerator into first and second compartments such as a freezer compartment and a fresh food compartment. It is further desirable to have the partition constructed in such a manner that there is a mullion across the front of the partition and secured to the cabinet outer case to afford a pleasing appearance. The freezer and fresh food compartments are in many cases closed by separate access doors which are hingedly attached to the cabinet outer case. For the pleasing appearance of the mullion and the proper fit of the doors for the freezer and fresh food compartments it is important that the width of the refrigerator cabinet be maintained and that the loads on the door do not produce excessive deflection of the structure, and further that the door openings are square and more importantly remain square under normal or design loads.
Generally household refrigerators normally employ a sheet metal outer casing and an inner liner with a resin foam insulation medium interposed therebetween. The foam or polyurethane compositions in liquid/gas form are introduced into the space between the outer casing and inner liner, expand throughout the space and then are solidifed by curing. In practice this solid foam which inherently adheres to both the outer case and inner liner adds a ridigity to the cabinet structure. This added rigidity by the employment of foam insulation has enabled manufacturers to reduce the thickness of the cabinet outer shell. In some instances the cabinet will deflect due to uneven floors or the force placed on the cabinet by weight of the doors. This deflection can cause a misalignment of the door wherein proper closure of the cabinet is impossible. It has been determined that when a cabinet deflects due to its being positioned on an uneven floor or excessive door loading the foam insulation which adheres to both the outer case and liner creeps or distorts. When this occurs the foam insulation over a period of time will set in its distorted position thereby causing the cabinet deflected to form a permanent parallelogram as the cabinet conforms to the floor.
This problem is further present when the refrigerator door is dimensioned relative to the cabinet to carry relatively large items such as one gallon milk containers and other large items. These larger items may present a weight increase of 50% over customary doors, and when stored on the door shelves can exert a large force on the hinge side of the cabinet. This force when excessive together with an uneven floor can cause the hinge side of the cabinet to sag and the cabinet frame to deflect and form a parallelogram. In this situation the door would be difficult to close and in some cases impossible.
Accordingly, by the present invention means are provided to insure that the cabinet door openings remain square under the forces applied by the weight of the doors on the cabinet frame and uneven floors.